All posts by Mrs Barnes

Gardening fun in the Greenhouse!

The children at Cart Mill are very excited that we have entered the Pocket Garden Design Competition. They have been busy last week planting seeds and learning how to look after them. The children have remembered that, for the seeds to grow, they need watered regularly, especially after the weekend!

”The seeds are getting a drink of water!”

We were so delighted to see that some of our seeds had started to sprout already. “Look! I can see some green leaves!”

After watering our seeds we talked about the life cycle of plants again and I was super impressed with how much the children remembered. We also looked at a chart showing us some of the seeds and bulbs that will flower in Spring!

The children decided they wanted to plant more seeds which will hopefully grow in our nursery greenhouse. They looked at the chart and chose to plant some dwarf daffodil bulbs instead of seeds.

”I like them because they are pretty and yellow!”

As we opened the packet, we guessed what we thought they would look like!

”I think they will be rectangle!”

“I think they are soft and a circle shape!”

The children knew exactly what to do and set about planting the bulbs. First they filled the tray with some compost. Some of the children liked to use a trowel but some preferred to get stuck in with their hands!

One child remembered that we use our finger to make a hole in the soil to put the bulb in! They showed the rest how to do it! Then the bulbs got covered with compost and patted down with our hands!

We collected some water in our watering cans to give our new bulbs a drink.


We then put our new tray on the shelf in the greenhouse, beside all our other planters.

Finally we had to write on a lollipop stick so we could remember what bulbs we had planted in our tray!

We stuck the lollipop stick in and covered the new tray of buLbs!

”The cover will keep them warm at night!”

We are excited to keep watering all our seeds and bulbs and can’t wait to see them grow. Once they have grown enough we will be planting them in our own pocket garden, designed by the children.

Article 28
You have the right to education

Nature Walk Fun!

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week, with the aim of making a difference to the lives of children and young people across the UK. It has been highlighted how beneficial nature can be for a child’s well-being and for them to learn outside and connect to the environment around them.
At Cart Mill the children have opportunities every day to play and learn outside. Today we decided to go for a walk to find out more about the natural world around our nursery!
We challenged ourselves to collect some sticks for an activity.

“Wow!! Look at how big this stick is!”

”it’s a stick man!”

Some of the children noticed that some of the sticks they tried to collect could not be picked up! They cleverly spotted that it was because it was actually the roots from the trees nearby and we should leave them alone!

We carried on walking down to the bridge. We could hear birds chirping, an aeroplane in the sky and the river running. The children guessed the river was running fast today!  We played our favourite game, Pooh sticks! This involved collecting sticks, throwing them in the river and running to the other side to watch them!

We all threw our sticks in at the same time and they had a race!
“I can see mine! It’s winning!”

Walking back to nursery we came across some big piles of bark! The children absolutely loved running up and jumping off the bark! It was a nice soft landing!

”Look how high I can jump!”

We all enjoyed our nature walk and talked about all the things we could hear and see! We were definitely ready for lunch when we got back to nursery!

Chinese Dragons!

With the start of Chinese New Year being yesterday the children wanted to make dragon masks. The dragon is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology. The dragon is a symbol of power, strength and good luck! The children watched some clips of the dragons dancing in the streets and were very impressed with the size and how colourful they are. We had a chat about why the dragon is significant in China.

We had a look at a colourful dragon and got started making our own dragon masks. The children wanted to use lots of coloured tissue paper to look like the ‘dragons hair’. First we had to cut the paper into strips!

We used paper plates for our masks. We added lots of colour using pens. Some children wanted to draw faces and some just drew patterns.

We used glue to stick on lots of coloured paper.  Some children thought it would be good to add coloured feathers to their dragons!

”Mine has a fluffy beard!”

”My dragon has spiky hair with lots of colours in it!”

“I’m making a rainbow dragon!”

”My dragon is loud and dancing!”

Once the children had designed their amazing dragons we stuck lollipop sticks on the back to make masks.

We had great fun dancing around the studio and listening to music pretending to be Chinese Dragons!  I think you will agree the children at Cartmill have been very creative today and enjoyed learning about Chinese culture.

Santa visits Cart Mill!

Today at Cart Mill we got to wear our pyjamas to nursery! All the children loved showing off their cosy warm pyjamas.

We watched a short video of Santa outside Cart Mill which got the children very excited! Some of the children heard bells ringing and spotted Santa in our garden! He had arrived at nursery to see us all!

The children went in groups to see Santa and they all got a gift and their photo taken! Santa was so happy to meet such lovely, polite children!

After the excitement of seeing Santa we had some chilled time and got comfy with cushions and blankets on the rug and watched some Christmas Mickey Mouse!

We then had plenty of energy for some Christmas dancing! We copied the elves on the board and made up our own unique dance moves!

What a great fun day we all had, getting in the festive spirit. We are all so excited to share our wonderful singing with you at our concert tomorrow.

Tea party in our den!

Today in the home room the children wanted to make the cosy corner into a den using blankets. They picked some blankets and used the large pegs to secure them.

This created a great comfy space for reading books and it was lovely to watch the older children reading books to our younger children. They all joined in singing Hickory Dickory Dock whilst looking at the book.

Some of the children decided to bring the babies to their den and have a tea party. They brought the cups and plates over and set up a lovely party. They invited other children to come for some tea and cake too!

“I’m having chocolate cake and my baby wants her milk!”

”I don’t like chocolate cake, I want strawberry cake!”

Some of the children then decided to dress up “fancy” for their party.

“I’ve got a big hat and a special bag!”

”I want all the pretty jewellery on me!”

What great fun we all had using our den for lots of different fun things!

 

 

Leaf Man!

Today in the garden we have enjoyed reading the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.

The children loved hearing about the adventures the wind took Leaf Man on in the story.

After listening to the story the children enjoyed looking through the book and making up their own adventures!

Using the leaves and conkers we have collected on our local walks we made our very own Leaf Men. The children had great fun doing this.

“Mine has a smiley face made from conkers!”

“Look, my guy has cheeks and a tummy button!”

”Mine has a big nose sticking out!”

“The wind will blow him to space!”

“Spider-Man leaf!”  “He can to big jumps and kicks!”

“I’ve made a girl called Millie all using the conkers, she has a leaf hat!”

What great stories the children made up about their Leaf Men. The next time you see leaves blowing in the wind make sure to ask the children about their adventures!

Autumn Walk!

Today we enjoyed the lovely mild weather and headed off on an Autumn walk. As soon as we left Cart Mill the children were delighted to spot a tree full of birds! There were so many and there was beautiful singing and chirping coming from them all.

“Look at the hundreds of birds!”      “They are saying cheep cheep!”

We carried on our walk and had great fun collecting leaves. We looked for different shapes, sizes and colours of leaves.

”I’ve found a yellow one!”    “Look a pretty red one!”

As we came to the bridge down at the river there was a very muddy patch blocking our path! The children thought and assessed whether they could jump over the mud!

Of course they made it over! We were very proud of ourselves! We heard there were conkers fallen off a big tree further down the road so we went to investigate. We were not disappointed! We found lots of conkers and some berries too!

”We don’t eat these berries as they are poisonous sure they are?”

There were so many piles of leaves under the trees that we couldn’t resist throwing them up in the air to make leaf showers! We had great fun doing this!

The children spotted some wild life whilst out walking! We were super excited to see a little squirrel running up a tree, we spotted a snail and a wiggly worm too!

“The worm feels all cold and squishy!”

The children enjoyed their walk back listening to the sound of the river! At the top of the path one of the children found what they called a cave! It looked like a cave and we all had a peak inside!

Once back in Cartmill we enjoyed sorting our findings into piles of different coloured leaves and conkers!

We had to take some of the conkers out of their shells!

Finally we looked at our leaf wheel which shows us all the different leaves you find. We successfully matched some of the leaves we found to the leaves on the wheel! Great job children!

We then washed our hands and had snack! What a busy fun morning!

 

Getting busy in the garden!

Today in the garden  we had great fun enjoying some September sunshine! We were very busy developing our gross motor skills in many different ways.

Some children got messy in the paint using big arm strokes to create an art masterpiece. They were using mops, brushes and roller cars to make different patterns.

We enjoyed water play and particularly had fun pouring water down the gutters  and catching it at the bottom.. Rolling the balls down with the water was great, the children realised that the more water they poured the quicker the balls travelled!
Jumping in the very large puddle in the garden was as always loved by the children! They enjoyed getting their suits on and making a big splash! The higher the jump the bigger the splash!

Let’s hope the sun keeps shining down on our garden!

Apple and Potato Printing!

Today the children used some of the potatoes we had grown to make pictures printing with paint. They also used some old apples to make different patterns and shapes.
First we cut the apples in half using our safe knives. Even our younger children were very careful and sensible using the knives and displayed great cutting skills. This helps develop their fine motor  skills. Controlling the knife will help prepare them to master other skills like holding a pencil.

The children then used the chopped fruit and veg to create lovely pictures. They chose paint colours and got printing. Some children made different patterns using both shape and colour!

“I’ve made a colour rocket with apple and potato!”

“The apple print looks like a love heart! I love hearts!”

We had great fun in the garden with this activity and created lots of lovely art work too!

Sports Super Stars!

This week the children have been enjoying sports week. We have been participating in many different sports activities both in the garden and out on the grass! Thankfully the weather has been kind to us so far! The children have been showing their competitive sides and throwing themselves into the races!

One of their favourite races has definitely been the sack race! We are so impressed at how good the children have been at this showing off their fantastic balance and coordination skills!

The egg and spoon race (using bean bags) was great fun,  Some of the children managed the whole race without dropping it, especially the ones that were holding it on!!!  We also ran balancing the bean bags on our heads! This was tricky but the children showed great perseverance to get to the end!

Throwing the rings on to the cones proved to be very popular! The children enjoyed this game and really tried their best to get all the rings over!

We have some really good jumpers at Cart Mill so the long jump was very successful. The children ran up to the rope and jumped as far as they could landing on two feet! The action photos show how much fun this was!

The good old running race is definitely still a favourite! The children just love to run anywhere and everywhere! We had races in the garden and out on the grass and the children particularly enjoyed running down the hill!

Sports fun will continue for the rest of this week. I think we may have some future Olympians or maybe the next Usain Bolt here at Cart Mill!